Sarkozy calls on G20 finance ministers to agree reforms
Baku, February 19 (AZERTAC). French president Nicolas Sarkozy has warned leaders from the world`s biggest economies that urgent reforms must be agreed to strengthen the global recovery and avert future financial crises.
As G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs gathered in Paris for a summit, they were split down the middle over key proposals to measure imbalances in the global economy.
After inconclusive day-long talks yesterday, Mr Sarkozy said in a speech that imbalances in the global recovery underlined the need for improved co-ordination.
However, China`s rejection of plans to use real exchange rates and currency reserves to measure global economic imbalances threw doubt over the prospect of an agreement being reached this weekend.
France has pinpointed agreement on indicators to measure such imbalances as a core aim of its G20 presidency. It is pressing for a stronger role for the International Monetary Fund and a new tax on financial transactions.
Mr Sarkozy urged G20 leaders not to give priority to their national interest. “A strength of the G20 is the co-ordination of economic policy. If we do nothing, global imbalances will again take root.”
He hoped “to avoid debates that get bogged down in interminable discussions” on indicators, diverting leaders from taking critical decisions on economic policy and fulfilling their “duty” to agree coordinated measures.
In spite of Mr Sarkozy`s push for a deal to measure imbalances, Chinese finance minister Xie Xuren said the G20 should use trade figures rather than current account balances to assess economic distortions.
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